The invention relates to a sliding and lifting roof for vehicles, having a rigid cover which, in its closed position, closes a roof opening in a fixed roof surface, which cover is mounted on guide tracks extending parallel to the side edges of the roof opening, and which, selectively, can be tiltably raised so that its rear edge is disposed above the fixed roof surface, or can be slidably displaced along the guide tracks by a lowering of its rear end below the fixed roof surface. In particular, the invention relates to such a roof wherein said roof is also provided with a rain gutter which underlies the rear edge of the roof opening, whether the cover is raised or closed, by virtue of the rain gutter being connected with a tilt assembly which, in the cover's raised position, causes the rain gutter to assume an inclined position in which its forward edge is elevated, the tilt assembly having a control lever at each side of the roof opening that are fixedly connected with the rain gutter in the area of the rearward ends of the levers and are pivotably attached to the cover in the area of their forward ends at a fixed point which is closer to the rear edge of the cover than the forward edge thereof.
In a sliding and lifting roof of this kind, as is known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,664,439, the rain gutter is supported by cam followers which are fixedly connected to a lower rearward portion of the rain gutter and each of which ride on a cam portion of a guide element having an inclined surface, whereby the cam followers, simultaneously, form pivot supports for the tilting movements of the rain gutter when the cover is raised from its closed position to its upwardly tilted position. The displacement of the cover is effected by a transport bridge, which slides below the rain gutter when the cover is raised. The cam surfaces, having inclined planes, necessitate some increase in the overall height of the sliding and lifting roof, causing a reduction of headroom. Furthermore, if a roof headlining, as is known, for instance, from the disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 4,717,199, is to be installed, such is made relatively difficult by the presence of the transport bridge.
Another sliding and lifting roof that is equipped with a displaceable rain gutter is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,537,442. In the case of this arrangement, the rain gutter is articulated to guides of the cover by pivot arms so as to pivot about the same axis as the cover, or the gutter may be articulated to the cover by the pivot arms at a point which is raised and rearwardly displaced relative to the cover pivot axis. However, this arrangement presents the very problems that the roof of the first-mentioned patent was specifically designed to avoid.
German Offenlegungsschrift No. 35 32 104 and the corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 4,749,227 disclose a sliding and lifting roof in which both sides of the rain gutter are connected with slide elements that travel along the tracks which serve to guide the cover. However, in this arrangement the rain gutter is rigidly secured to the sliding elements. preventing the rain gutter from being tilted when the cover is raised.